#Rochelle riley detroit free press free

#Rochelle riley detroit free press free

Plans to fill Riley's role at the Free Press are being developed. 'It’s been an honor to be her colleague and editor, and I will miss her personally and professionally,' he said, stressing that the Free Press is 'determined to bring diverse voices into our newsroom and our journalism.' Riley said she hopes the Free Press will hire another columnist.Īllen, as well as other readers, have said that the absence of Riley's column 'will be deafening,' adding that 'it's imperative' for the Free Press and other news media sources to continue hiring black journalists and covering African-American perspectives.įree Press Editor Peter Bhatia called Riley 'a voice of righteousness,' 'a voice of what’s right' and said the news organization 'will be forever grateful to her.' 'Even though Detroit is a predominately African-American community, oftentimes people don’t feel like their voices are being considered and taken into account,' Tonya Allen, president and CEO of the Skillman Foundation, said. 'What Rochelle did was to listen and to amplify, and hit the right tone all the time.'īut, while the Free Press editorial department has made efforts to regularly publish opinions from contributors of color, Riley's departure from the Free Press staff means the newspaper no longer has a full-time, black columnist. In Detroit, a city with a population that is nearly 80% black, Riley's fierce voice and powerful perspective have mattered a lot. Riley: I'm leaving the Free Press, but still fighting for Detroit

Rochelle Riley to be Detroit's new director of arts and culture 'We know what it is, we know how hard we're trained to be a part of the craft and industry, and we have to continue to fight for it. 'We have to stop letting other people dictate what journalism is,' Riley said Friday. The sentiment Riley expressed at her April induction is something many journalists share: a feeling of gratitude and concern for a public service vocation threatened by cutbacks, technology and growing antipathy toward journalism and journalists.

Riley recently left the Free Press to become Detroit's director of arts and culture, but her remarks at UNC resonated well beyond the colleagues, friends, and relatives who had gathered to honor a distinguished journalism career that started in the Tar Heel state, passed through Texas, Washington D.C., Kentucky, and ended in Detroit.

'I am leaving the newsroom behind - I'm in my last month of work at the Free Press - but, I will never give up that mission, and none of us should.' 'I am proud to be a journalist,' Riley said during her induction into the North Carolina Media and Journalism Hall of Fame at her alma mater, the University of North Carolina. Watch Video: Rochelle Riley's speech for NC Media and Journalism Hall of Fameįor two decades, Rochelle Riley's words have made things happen, and for about half of that time, as a Free Press columnist, she told stories, exposed truths and stimulated action.